Project 3-Writ of Certiorari

Chapter 4 of your student text detailed the role of the US Supreme Court and indicated that the Court's most important function is the exercise of its appellate jurisdiction. The Supreme Court will ussue a writ of certiorari to the last court that heard a case when they believe that a specific case contains a constituinal issue important enough to be decided by the Supreme Court. Research a case where the Supreme Court issued a writ of certiorari and answer the following questions:

1. Write a paragraph that explains the background and the case (including the name of the case, i.e., Roe v. Wade).
2. What was the constitutional issue surrounding the case? Be sure to include the verbage of the amendment in your explanation.
3. List the courts (in sequential order) that heard the case. To what court did the Supreme Court issue a writ of certiorari?
4. What was the outcome of the Supreme Court's decision? Give a good, detailed description of the majority opinion.
5. Were any of the Justices in dissent over the majority opinion? If so, who were they and what was their argument?


Answer the questions in a Word Document. Print the document and turn in. Assignment due on Feb. 7 at the end of class. Be prepared to discuss your case in class on Thursday.